GhettoVCB Cronjob

GhettoVCB Cronjob  

Basic:


e.g.

0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/backuplist > /dev/null

or

0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/backuplist > /tmp/ghettoVCB.log

Configure on ESXi:

1. Setup the cronjob by appending the following line to /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root:

0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-$(date +\%s).log

If you are unable to edit/modify /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root, please make a copy and then edit the copy with the changes

cp /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root.backup

Once your changes have been made, then "mv" the backup to the original file. This may occur on ESXi 4.x or 5.x hosts

mv /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root.backup /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root

You can now verify the crontab entry has been updated by using "cat" utility.

2. Kill the current crond (cron daemon) and then restart the crond for the changes to take affect:

On ESXi < 3.5u3

kill $(ps | grep crond | cut -f 1 -d ' ')

On ESXi 3.5u3+

~ # kill $(pidof crond)
~ # crond

On ESXi 4.x/5.0

~ # kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
~ # busybox crond

On ESXi 5.1

~ # kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
~ # crond

3. Now that the cronjob is ready to go, you need to ensure that this  cronjob will persist through a reboot. You'll need to add the following two lines to /etc/rc.local (ensure that the cron entry matches what was defined above). In ESXi 5.1, you will need to edit /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh instead of /etc/rc.local as that is no longer valid.

On ESXi 3.5

/bin/kill $(pidof crond)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
crond

On ESXi 4.x/5.0

/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
/bin/busybox crond

On ESXi 5.1

/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
crond

Afterwards the file should look like the following:

~ # cat /etc/rc.local
#! /bin/ash
export PATH=/sbin:/bin

log() {
   echo "$1"
   logger init "$1"
}

#execute all service retgistered in /etc/rc.local.d
if [http:// -d /etc/rc.local.d |http:// -d /etc/rc.local.d ]; then
   for filename in `find /etc/rc.local.d/ | sort`
      do
         if [ -f $filename ] && [ -x $filename ]; then
            log "running $filename"
            $filename
         fi
      done
fi

/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
/bin/busybox crond

This will ensure that the cronjob is re-created upon a reboot of the system through a startup script